Wichita eagle., 1887-01-13
GREENWOOD CEMETERY.
CHANGES THAT HAVE BEEN MADE
IN THE GREAT GRAVEYARD.
The Cemetery VIII Be Practically CIczed
in Twenty-Five Years Hence-Best Mar
BILE for Monuments aud Wood for
Coffius-Tree Roots.

me cemetery W III re frAclIca!ty SlCeeu
in twenty-five Years Hence-Best Mar
BILE for Monuments aud Wood for
Cofins-Tree Roots.
Superintendent L J. Wells, OF Greenwood
cemetery, is pleasant voiced man with gray
hair, who has had the care Of New York and
Brooklyn's great repository for the dead for
many years. He has seen Green wood grow
from a vacant, unimproved plot of 200 acres
- a tract OF surprising beauty. peOpled with
nearly 2J0, 90 OF dead, and covering nearly
square mile OF territory. Dir. Wells coz
siders Greenwood the largest and finest
cemetery in the world. It was chartered in
ISIS, and the first burial was that OF Sarah
Hannah, Of this city, on Sept. ), 1910. Now
there are more than go, loo bodies buried
there
Is the cemetery large enough now'" asked
the reporter
1t Is large enough to furnish lots for the
next twenty-five years, and after that we
don't care The lots VIII be large enough 70
accommodate their owners for years 10 come,
and we shall have z surplus large enough to
keep the grounds IL order forever
Then Greenwood Will be practically closed
a quarter of a century hence"
That is the idea exactly. 1t is large
enough now to be readily handled Our fund
for the permanent care OF the cemetery Is DE-
ing added TO steadily, and now amounts to
SS61, $50 -. Our trust fund for the care OF
special graves Is already large one, and We
have had the cemetery boundaries fixed by
the streets and boulevards Of the city, so that
the present boundaries viii be permanent.
All that viii be done to the grounds after
1910, then, VIII be 10 keep them looking
beautiful"
NOT 4 STOCK COMPANY.
''You see. the Greenwood Cemetery corpo-
ration is not q stock company, as most SINH
lar associations are 1t is trust company,
and no one gets any money out Of it save
the employees. All that remains after the
annual expenses are paid is added to the sur
plus fund that is being put away for the
future care OF the cemetery. Every lot
oy~ler is a stakeholder There are over
p 900 of them. Every improvement has
been made upon the grounds. We have
stone crushers, arJesian wells. thorough sew
erage, and have just finished a new reservoir
to hold 80, 900 gallons, that stands on Mount
Washington, the highest point on Long
Island, and is about 20 feet above tide
water. This stores the water pumped from
our wells, and gives greater and much
needed pressure. \ new eigtt-inch water
main viii be laid this fall, taking the place
Of one Of our four inches. The changes in
Greenwood since I came here il 1913 have
been marvellous. | am the only one left OF
the attaches who were here then"
What IS the most durable material for
monuments -
Dark blue granite, from Quincy, Mass.
Bronze comes next, but it is costly, and it Is
being adul,erated so much now that some Of
it is poor There has been great revolution
in the gravestone business People have
found out that blue granite Is the best stone
to wear, and they are using nothing eIse.
The rage for Italian marble began TO Gle out
ten years ago. There are veins in it which
Gre imperceptibIe when the work is new, but
which exposure develops, and then the work
OF ruin begins We do not allow Enclosures
to be made of it at ali. and the best stone
cutters viii not recommend it to customers
AL Enclosures now are required 10 be Of
granite coping, or granite posts and bars Of
either galvanized iron or brass No iron
chains or hedges are allowed. This course
viii keep the grounds from Disagreement n
after wears It is the result of dearly
bought experience. Brownstone? No, there
hasn't been any brownstOne used here for
twenty years. 1t IS not durable Scotch
would Light granite turns yellow with